3 Costco Food Court Hacks You Need to Know About Right Now

Costco’s food court is small but mighty. There are only a handful of items on the menu, but because it offers big portions for a pittance, people can’t resist. The massive greasy pizza slices, the savory chicken bakes, the plump all-beef hot dogs, the warm cinnamon-y churro — they’ve all earned loyal fans who love to finish off a trip to the warehouse store with their favorite bite.

Here’s the thing, though: You can practically double the menu options if you apply a little mix-and-match creativity. That’s right, people – you can hack the Costco food court menu.

Here are three things you must try on your next trip.

I never really thought about doing this until a recent shopping trip with my 12-year-old daughter. As we checked out, she gazed over at the food court menu and pronounced, “I want to get a root beer float.” I looked at her puzzled and replied, “They don’t have that here.” She looked at me, raised her eyebrows, and suddenly I was filled with a mixture of joy and pride and pain — yes, pain, because the idea had never dawned on me before. All those root beer floats we could have been having!

To make a float at Costco, just order a vanilla frozen yogurt and a soda. They’ll give you an empty soda cup, which you should fill about three-quarters full with root beer. Spoon in as much fro-yo as you can fit, then slowly fill the now half-empty cup of fro-yo with root beer (it will foam up considerably so go as slow as you can). Suddenly you have two big root beer floats for about $2.

You don’t have to wait for a ballgame or head to a pub to get your chili dog fix. Just order the famous Costco hot dog and a bowl of chili. Spoon the chili on the hot dog and dig in. The chili comes with a lid, so if you don’t have a friend to share it with, just take the leftovers home for lunch the next day.

Want a Mexi-spiced mocha freeze? Order the churro and the mocha freeze, then dip the churro in it. The cinnamon-sugar topping on the churro gives the mocha loads more flavor. Besides, churros are meant to be dipped in chocolate. Alternatively, try dipping a churro into a berry sundae and it’s like strawberry shortcake.

My Costco doesn’t have the vegan al pastor salad yet, but I’m thinking the salad’s spicy soy crumbles sprinkled on a slice of pizza would probably be pretty darn good. If you try it, report back.

• The Healthiest Thing to Eat at the Costco Food Court, According to Four Registered Dietitians
  
• The Biggest Mistakes People Make in Line at the Costco Food Court

Do you have any brilliant Costco food court hacks up your sleeve? Share your ideas in the comments below!